Why are my product images blurry on the main page despite high resolution?

Store Design

Topic summary

A user reports persistent blurriness in product images on their Shopify store despite uploading high-resolution files in various formats (JPG, PNG) and sizes (1024px, 2048px, up to 4472px). The issue affects the main product page and becomes especially noticeable when zooming on mobile devices.

Key troubleshooting suggestions:

  • DPI settings: The most emphasized solution involves creating images at 300 DPI rather than 72-96 DPI. One contributor insists that starting with a 4000x4000px canvas at 300 DPI in Photoshop, then exporting as PNG with “Preserve Details” resampling, resolves blurriness issues.
  • Image ratio settings: A later suggestion recommends selecting “Adapt to image” in theme settings rather than “square” or “portrait” options, which may compress images and reduce quality.
  • Format considerations: While PNG is generally recommended for quality, Shopify support suggested JPG for faster page load speeds.

Ongoing concerns:

  • Multiple users express tension between image quality and page load speed
  • Some worry about using high-resolution images due to theft/unauthorized reproduction risks
  • The original poster uses the Blockshop theme by Troop Themes; contacting theme developers was suggested but outcome unclear

The discussion remains open with various users seeking solutions to similar blurriness problems.

Summarized with AI on October 30. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
4

What is the natural size (pixels x pixels and dpi) of the image? Was this image made through some design program such as Photoshop or Gimp? I can only speak to the settings in Photoshop as I have never used Gimp, but if you chose any of the blank presets under the Web category, the image quality is not good enough to be what you want on the web.

On my site, product photography and any other graphics that I use are all over 4000 pixels x 4000 pixels with 300 dpi. I don’t recommend starting with a base of anything less. I do not compress them before uploading and use the built in Shopify image editor to adjust the file size of the image to be more appropriate for the web. The only time things come out blurry is if I miss-focused the image when taking it.